Gaming systems have become increasingly popular over time. As gaming systems have increased in performance, their capability has also expanded into a role as an information portal for users to obtain web access exchange information between gamers, and even provide communication between networked parties. As a result, users are beginning to demand more than just gaming capability from their gaming systems, and additionally seek broader interoperability and capability for information exchange.
Providers have attempted to produce peripheral devices which are interoperable with certain gaming systems and their networked counterparts to assist in information exchange. These devices typically provide for messaging, verbal or imagery-based exchanges across such systems. For instance, Microsoft has introduced a capability for chatting technology in certain of its systems, such as with its Microsoft® XBOX® 360's chatpad hardware and Xbox® Live interface. The Microsoft chatpad, by example, provides a user the ability to type messages using traditional text without disruption to the gaming experience such that a user may continue to play the present active game. In essence, the chatpad and similar devices provide a current implementation of a combination of earlier tools required by a user, where previously, the user used a keyboard device or a controller to scroll through and select letters apart from the gaming device, and was typically required to disrupt the active game activity. However these types of peripheral devices often are offered as options in addition to the basic gaming system components. These same peripherals then also often require additional connectivity and also bring forth additional expense for a user. Further these types of peripheral devices do not provide a transparent interface for a user using a gaming system having multiple environments therein.
Alternative attempts have also been sought to make use of audio input that is processed in parallel with gameplay for communication, for instance with other players. While audio input, such as voice over IP (VOIP) or speech-to-text translation, accomplishes the parallelism needed to further gameplay, this approach Occurs at the expense of the user in terms of additional cost, area, and power. Further and disadvantageously, the user is typically required to cover the upfront purchase price of peripherals such as headphones, microphones, speakers, etc. and is further expected to manage residual energy usage, containment, and upkeep of the devices. The number of accessories and options for electronic products has continued to increase over the years, thus the addition of more peripherals is typically a hardware approach that ultimately results in higher costs and more complex management issues for the user.
Therefore, while some conveniences to reducing the disruption in the gaming experience to game players have been realized in these approaches, these efforts have come at a cost to users and have not resulted in flexible modes of communication being available through gaming systems. More particularly, the gaming experience remains devoid of the ability to use the gaming peripherals intended for gaming in a manner to attend to the non-gaming communications such as that of writing. Additionally, the transparency in operation is lacking in these efforts as these additional features are often of little benefit in the gaming operation during a gaming experience.
For instance, while the chatpad offers a convenience to users, the use of the text pad is still a distraction from the gaming activity. The chatpad is merely a traditional text entry device more conveniently situated within a single gaming tool, and does not provide a seamless interface from the user to the non-gaming communications activity. Further the chatpad is an additional peripheral not essential to the gaming system but which is operative to be only a convenience to a user of the gaming system for non-gaming needs. The chatpad is a peripheral supplement to the gaming system and provides a text capability which is typically not required for many gaming systems. The act of texting then remains founded in traditional input devices in varying forms, with few if any advances made in the art to offer improved convenience to gamers for providing a writing capability within a gaming system. Unfortunately, an additional peripheral beyond the normal gaming system components is then required for the added convenience to perform activities not typically associated with gaming and the additional peripheral does not necessarily enhance the gaming experience.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a gaming system which provides for a writing capability without the need for additional peripherals in a gaming system. It is further desirable to have a method and system for providing for a writing capability to a game center in a gaming system using components of the gaming system which further provides a user of the gaming system a convenient and efficient ability to write therein. The present invention addresses such needs.